NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Teenagers seem to know that
loud music can damage their hearing, yet most see no reason to
lower the volume on their iPods, a small study suggests.

In focus-group discussions with students at two high
schools in the Netherlands, researchers found that the teens
were generally aware that blasting an MP3 player could harm
their hearing. Yet most said they usually played their own
device at maximum volume and had no plans to change that.

Like many teenagers, the students often denied their own
personal risk. Most knew the general hazards of loud music, but
believed they had a "low personal vulnerability" to hearing
loss, the researchers report in the Journal of Pediatrics.

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Given this, lead researcher Ineke Vogel told Reuters Health
in an email interview, "we strongly recommend parents to inform
their children and to discuss with their children the use of
MP3 players and the potential long- term, irreversible
consequences for hearing capacity."

Parents can also look for signs of a problem, like when a
child complains of ringing in the ears or sounds being
"muffled," according to Vogel and co-researcher Dr. Hein Raat,
who are both based at the University Medical Center Rotterdam.

Based on the focus-group discussions, though, many parents
may be unaware of the hearing risks posed by MP3 players, the
researchers note. Of the 73 students in the study, few said
their parents had warned them that playing the devices too loud
could harm their hearing.

It may also be necessary for MP3 manufacturers to make
changes, the researchers note in their report.

Many students in the study said they did not know how to
tell when their MP3 players were too loud. Volumes at or above
90 decibels (dB) are believed to be hazardous, Vogel's team
notes, but noise levels need to reach 120 dB to 140 dB to
become uncomfortable or painful.

Manufacturers, according to the researchers, could equip
MP3 players with an indicator that displays the volume level in
terms of decibels, along with a signal -- such as a flashing
light -- that goes off when decibel levels reach the danger
zone.

For now, Vogel and her colleagues recommend that, as a
general "rule of thumb," MP3 users set the volume no higher
than 60 percent of its full capacity when using "ear bud" style
headphones, like those that come with iPods.

With over-the-ear headphones, they recommend 70 percent as
the maximum.

Just as there are safety standards for occupational noise
exposure, Vogel and her colleagues suggest that more long-range
studies are needed to develop safety guidelines for
"leisure-time" noise exposure.